Multiphase Flows in Polymer Microfluidic Systems Namwon Kim Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected]
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2009 Multiphase flows in polymer microfluidic systems Namwon Kim Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Mechanical Engineering Commons Recommended Citation Kim, Namwon, "Multiphase flows in polymer microfluidic systems" (2009). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 221. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/221 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. MULTIPHASE FLOWS IN POLYMER MICROFLUIDIC SYSTEMS A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Mechanical Engineering By Namwon Kim B.S., Kangwon National University, Korea, 1998. May 2009 To my parents, Man Ki Kim and Keum Yeon Cho, and lovely family ii Acknowledgments I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all who stood by me throughout this academic journey. The first two persons that come to my mind are my advisors, Dr. Michael C. Murphy and Dr. Dimitris E. Nikitopoulos who advised me how to keep on the right track to this finish line, which also means another start line. Dr. Murphy is one of the most enthusiastic and patient people as a teacher and researcher I ever met. He always reminds me of a master who has a calm and gentle charisma. I have to say another sincere gratitude to Dr. Dimitris E. Nikitopoulos, my co-advisor who let me through the maze of research with his tremendous academic knowledge, experiences, energies and Greek jokes. Additional gratitude is extended to Dr. Steven A. Soper and Dr. Jin-Woo Choi for their guidance and discussion that made this research moving forward and Dr. Dandina N Rao who is a Dean’s representative. There were so many people who inspired me hanging around me, not only by their academic knowledge, but also their attitudes about life. I gratefully acknowledge my research colleagues, Dr. Daniel S. Park and Jason Guy at the Center for Bio-Modular Multi-Scale Systems (CBM2), Dr. Sunggook Park at ME, Dr. Yohannes Desta and Dr. Proyag Datta at Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices (CAMD) for their invaluable academic advice and technical support in the fabrication of polymer microfluidic chips. I also thank all lab mates who got through weekly meeting together, Dr. Byoung Hee You, Dr. Pin-Chuan Chen and his family, Taehyun Park, Tae Yoon Lee, Chetan Ramesh and Adam Cygan in Micro-Systems Engineering Team (µSET). I also thank Dr. Sudheer Rani, Estelle Evans and Eamonn Walker in the Microfluidics lab, Wonbae Lee and Dr. Subramanian Balamurugan in Chemisty, Jeong Tae Ok and Junseo Choi in Prof. Park’s lab, and Junpyo Hong, Dr. Won Kyo Jung, Jihwan Park, Sejong Kim and Taewoo Park on the LSU tennis court. iii Most of all, everything to my lovely family, I cannot express how I am grateful to their love and support, my parents Man Ki Kim and Keum Yeon Cho, sister Hyekyung Kim, brother Namhun Kim, parents-in-law Sung Ki Lee and Yeon Sook Choi, brother-in-law Jongmin Lee, my companion for life, Eun Ju who took me over from my mom, my most precious son, Kyungrae who has complete control of me, and may be another one. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................ iii List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................. viii List of Symbols .............................................................................................................................xv Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... xvii Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................1 1.1 Microfluidics and Bio-MEMS ..............................................................................................1 1.2 High Throughput Screening (HTS) with Microfluidics .......................................................2 1.3 Objectives .............................................................................................................................3 1.3.1 Fabrication of Microfluidic Polymer Chips ...................................................................3 1.3.2 Multi-Phase Flows in Microfluidic Devices ..................................................................4 1.4 Outline of Dissertation ..........................................................................................................5 Chapter 2 Background ............................................................................................................7 2.1 Fundamental Equations in Microfluidics ..............................................................................7 2.2 Dimensionless Numbers in Microfluidics ............................................................................8 2.3 Dispersion and Mixing in Multiphase Flow .......................................................................10 2.4 Thin Film in Multiphase Flow ............................................................................................12 2.5 Literature Review ...............................................................................................................15 2.5.1 Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow .......................................................................................15 2.5.2 Liquid-Liquid Segmented Flow ...................................................................................19 Chapter 3 Polymer Microfluidic Test Chips and Experimental Apparatus ....................26 3.1 Introduction .........................................................................................................................26 3.2 Preparation of Polymer Microfluidic Test Chips ................................................................27 3.2.1 Direct Micromachining of Polymers ...........................................................................27 3.2.2 Micromachining of the Brass Mold Insert ...................................................................29 3.2.3 X-Ray LIGA ................................................................................................................31 3.2.4 Hot Embossing of Thermoplastics ...............................................................................33 3.2.5 Thermal Fusion Bonding and Interconnection ............................................................35 3.3 Surface Roughness of Microchannels .................................................................................38 3.4 Experimental Apparatus .....................................................................................................42 3.4.1 Gas-Liquid Experiment Setup......................................................................................42 3.4.2 Liquid-Liquid Experiment Setup .................................................................................44 Chapter 4 Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flows in Microchannels ..............................................47 4.1 Introduction .........................................................................................................................47 4.1.1 Configurations of Microfluidic Test Chips ..................................................................47 4.2 Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow Regimes ...............................................................................50 4.2.1 Capillary Bubble Flow .................................................................................................50 4.2.2 Segmented Flow...........................................................................................................51 v 4.2.3 Segmented-Annular Flow ............................................................................................52 4.2.4 Annular Flow ...............................................................................................................53 4.2.5 Dry Flow ......................................................................................................................54 4.3 Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow Regime Maps .......................................................................55 4.4 Details of the Segmented Flow Regimes ............................................................................58 4.4.1 Image Processing .........................................................................................................60 4.4.2 Gas Bubble and Liquid Plug Lengths ..........................................................................63 4.4.3 Regularity of Segmented Flow ....................................................................................65 4.5 Pressure Drop in Microchannels .........................................................................................72 4.5.1